Kevin Glynn‘s article on the 2004 US elections draws heavily on Baudrillard‘s idea of “media nonevent,” “hyperreality” and “simulation.” His is an approach quite different to mine, but I thought I mention the article here anyway, as it’s one definitely well worth to read.

The basic idea is that the “W” – administration went to unprecedented lengths to exert control “over and through images” of the media (partly because it also, argues Glynn, went to unprecedented lengths to tamper with election results, and needed attention to be diverted away from evidence of this tampering, and preferably towards narratives furthering the interest of the GOP).

BUT

the irony is that precisely this heavy reliance on the media for control that made that administration also seriously vulnerable to COUNTERspectacles, COUNTERimages and COUNTERnarratives, originating from both the alternative press and the internet and from the mainstream media.